Automatic vs Manual for Late Model Corolla

Hi...
I'm planning to get rid of my 2000 Tacoma (105k miles and still going
strong) for a lower MPG Corolla. Before the Taco, I owned (new) a 1987

Corolla manual trans. A lot of fun but I had to replace the clutch at
~60k miles.
I'd like to know from those of you that have a later year (2005-8)
manual Corolla when you had to replace a clutch.
I really enjoy the fun of a manual trans but didn't enjoy the big bucks
of the replacement job. I hear that the automatics in the late year
Corollas have no power to accelerate onto a major freeway...is that the
situation?
BTW..the 87 Corolla kept going until 90k when I gave it away to a friend
for his kid in 2000 and it may still be going, having been sold to
someone else from there. So that's why I like Toyota reliability/quality.
Thanks for any insights...
--Bill

Don't know about the acceleration, but a heads-up: My last two Corollas
have been automatics, because when buying my (new) '98, I couldn't find a
5-speed after 2 - 3 months of looking throughout the NE; so didn't even try
to locate one when buying the '04. Automatically went for an automatic.
However, I suspect that the maunals are more available on the S models. (My
'84 & '90 Corollas were stickshifts, but not S editions.)
Cathy

My Ford Contour has over 150,000 mi and is still going strong on the
first clutch. I suspect the problem is not the clutch, but the driver.
Before you buy a car with a manual transmission, learn to drive one.
Jeff

Damn, Sam...ER, Bill! I have an 85 Corolla I bought with 10,000 on it in
'86 that now has 260,000 miles and the ORIGINAL clutch!!! Before that I
had an '80 Corolla SR-5 I bought new, 244,000 miles on the original clutch!!!
May I suggest the Automatic...

When I bought my 01 camry there was a new 01 camry manual also
available. I don't think I've seen a newer camry stick since. I gave it
some thought but in the kind of traffic we have these days it'd be too
much work. Besides I like to do paper work while I'm driving so that
wouldn't work..

That's a practice I'd give up if I were you. Or you may have to do the
paper work on your incarceration when you run into someone while doing your
paper work, eating, shaving and texting on your cellphone while driving.
Such multitasking is less than productive.
Take it from someone who once saw a guy in a Mercedes reading the stock
market section of the newspaper while navigating the Hollywood freeway!

How much mileage one gets out of a clutch has to do with where one lives.
When I lived on Long Island, I got , on average, 40,000 between brake pad
replacements on my 1982 Cressida (much stop and go driving on the Northern
State Parkway). I put over 130,000 miles on my Avalon before brakes came
close to needing replacement.
On my 1979 Celica, my first clutch lasted 75,000 miles. The car has over
200,000 miles on it now, and the second clutch is doing just fine. So maybe
the holier-than thou "you should get an automatic" types should factor in
locale and type of driving.
wrote:

I live in a 'mountainous' region of Massachusetts, and travel to Vermont
quite a bit. Still got 240,000 out of one clutch and 260,000 out of
another.
Driving style has quite a bit more to do with a clutch than where it's
driven. And I'm no slouch, either. Light turns green, I'm gone.

I think that it is a combination of both driving style and location. If one
does a lot of stop and go it can wear on the clutch versus interstate
driving. How the left foot behaves I see as the other side of that coin.
Tomes

Hmmmm...when I bought the '80 Corolla I was living in Eastern Mass, and
went to Boston quite frequently. When I bought the Hachiroku I was living
in Hartford and then New Britain and had to deal with rush hour traffic.
My wife was Chinese and we went to Boston and NYC quite a bit. I would say
40-50,000 of those miles were grinding-in-the-city miles. On both cars...

The two sides of that coin can indeed be weighted differently. Your
intelligent left foot trumps the driving location for you. Everyone's
mileage (clutch mileage that is) varies. The person who only rides the
interstates but does so with their left foot resting on the clutch pedal
will be the other way around.
Tomes

You mean like QSlim's "power pedal" story? ;)
I had a *HELL* of a time learning how to drive a standard, and my first
car was a Corolla 1200...no automatic available! Talk about being thrown
into the lake to be taught how to swim.
And I had older friends who talked about 'riding the clutch' like it was a
venal sin. So I knew riding the clutch was out of the question.
I've been driving 5-speeds for so long, if I really want to, I can make it
feel like there's no shifting at all...

Yeah, I can make it feel that way too if I try. I try to do it especially
when my 18 year old son is in the car to give him something to shoot for.
My first attempt at driving a stick was a 'here take this van to go get the
part" when I was working a gas station when I was 17. It was one of those
Ford sit over the front wheel ones. I had to look like I knew what I was
doing as it was the boss' van. I let out that clutch so slowly it took
forever for me to move. I did it tho.
I was told (and it has stuck with me and I have pass it on) early on to
leave that left foot on the floor, _away_ from the clutch pedal, when I am
not using it. Keep it no where near so there is no accidental slippage.
Tomes

Re: Automatic vs Manual for Late Model Corolla
Group: alt.autos.toyota Date: Sun, Mar 16, 2008, 10:48pm From:
snipped-for-privacy@here.net (Tomes)
Yeah, I can make it feel that way too if I try. I try to do it
especially when my 18 year old son is in the car to give him something
to shoot for.
My first attempt at driving a stick was a 'here take this van to go get
the part" when I was working a gas station when I was 17. It was one of
those Ford sit over the front wheel ones. I had to look like I knew what
I was doing as it was the boss' van. I let out that clutch so slowly it
took forever for me to move. I did it tho.
I was told (and it has stuck with me and I have pass it on) early on to
leave that left foot on the floor, _away_ from the clutch pedal, when I
am not using it. Keep it no where near so there is no accidental
slippage. Tomes
---------
Seriously dude..you sound gay...either that or you're very immature..

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